Air pollution in Thailand Bangkok forces more than 350 closing schools | Environmental news
Thai capital is ranked as the eighth the smallest polluted city around the world because the micro -walled level rises.
More than 350 schools in Bangkok were forced to close because of air pollution, authorities in the Thailand capital said.
The Thai capital has been struggling with the dangerous air quality from the middle week, when the city authorities have given the schools permission to close and consult people to work from home after the air quality index (AQI) hit 159, according to Iqair, partner of the United Nations program.
Six -wheel trucks are also limited from entering parts of the city.
Reading Aqi above 100 is considered unhealthy, while reading above 200 is rated very unhealthy.
On Friday morning, when the authorities published about 100 additional schools, Aqi was 185.
From 11 o’clock local time, Bangkok classified as the eighth most polluted city in the world, behind Daka, Lahore, Katmandu, Karachi, Delhi, Mumbaja and Ho Chi Minh City, according to Iqair.
While hundreds of schools remained closed, only about 100,000 Bangkok’s more than 10 million inhabitants applied for a voluntary job scheme from home, according to the AFP news agency.
Governor Bangkok Chadchart Sittipunt said the increase in pollution is the consequences of a seasonal burning of crops, a vehicle show and a garbage burning.
The AQI index, developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, measures ozone at ground level, particle pollution, including PM2.5 and PM10, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
A large part of Bangkok’s pollution this week caused a high concentration of micro -hosts PM2.5, which cause cancer. The city levels of PM2.5 hit 108 micrograms per cubic meter on Friday morning, 21.6 times more than an annual guidelines for the World Health Organization.
The contamination levels are expected to extinguish over the weekend, reaching 71 by Monday, according to the forecast IQAIR.
The Kasikorn Research Center, based in Bangkok, said this week that the pollution could cost a city between three and six billion Baht ($ 88 to $ 177 million) if it continued for a month, according to the site of the Nation on the Thailand State.
